Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Who couldn't see that coming

There's another headline: "Stop Dumping Ice Water on Your Head. Just Give Money."

Apparently icebucketchallenge wasn't the ALS ice bucket challenge when it began, despite revisionist attribution to ALS sufferer Pete Frates. It was a dare among a bunch of athletes (a golfer and race car driver among them) to either dump the ice water or donate $100 to a charity of their choice. Matt Lauer, for one, took the challenge prior to its association with ALS and donated to a hospice.

Says the article:

"Watch the golfers’ videos and you’ll see the stunt was really just about getting their friends to film themselves doing something dumb for no reason. The charity part was an afterthought."

The altruism was tacked on. Maybe future viral trends will give more thought to the algorithm, as this one pretty much encouraged people NOT to give money and do the stunt instead. Ultimately many participants realized that was pretty tacky and opted to do both, and once ALS commandeered the trend, a lot of money was raised for ALS. But, I do think that if athletes or other celebrities are going to have a public presence on social media, putting a little thought into what you're doing and saying and why you're doing and saying it isn't too much to ask. Otherwise it just comes across as sorority-level social fun and games, and considering a serious issue is usually the pretext, the hijinks can seem incredibly insensitive if the issue isn't highlighted, or is marginalized, and becomes simply a pretext to have a good time.

In the case of icebucket challenge, I disagree with Huffpost when Huffpost says all that was accomplished was getting people to talk. A lot of money was raised when #icebucketchallenge was eventually affliated with ALS, but I think that's because the terms of the challenge became so widely publicized people were shamed into donating. Everybody who poured a bucket on their head was on parade as somebody who declined to donate, so very rapidly people started saying they were doing both. That said, I think most of these stunts DO end up the way Huffpost says they do:

Slacktivism is a relatively new term with only negative connotations being associated with it as of recently. The whole thinking is that instead of actually donating money, you're attributing your time and a social post in place of that donation. Basically, instead of donating $10 to Charity XYZ, slacktivism would have you create a Facebook Post about how much you care about Charity XYZ- generating immediate and heightened awareness but lacking any actual donations and long term impact. Previous examples of slacktivism are not hard to find- remember in 2012 when everyone, and I mean everyone, shared the Kony video? Very few people knew who Kony was, how they could donate or where they could get involved- but all of a sudden, these viewers (myself, included) could contribute! We could share the Kony video on our Facebook and Twitter -- and while doing so, eliminating any chance we may have had at donating our time or money towards an actual prevention or cause directly related to the capture of Kony. You see, we valued our social posts at an incrementally higher cost than a donation- and by placing a sub-concioucs value on our Facebook post or Tweet, we told ourselves that we had done our part in trying to find Kony and then were able to pleasantly shift our thinking back to what we were going to eat for lunch. We had helped. We had participated. We patted ourselves on the back. We had tweeted.

As I've said before, among other things, this blog chronicles Tessa and Scott's p.r. and marketing, and in the process, it's often helpful to examine p.r. and marketing initiatives overall.

********

Just to get this out of the way - I believe Tessa Virtue recently let it be known she was going to get an instagram account. That was in no way a set up. Nor was this, barely a beat afterwards:

Where did her abs go? All the chocolate and pastries she scarfed down, not to mention the "summer five pounds" she habitually gains each year (except not), has left her suddenly slimmer than ever, but absent definition or striation in her abdominals. That could be Cass Hillborn's midsection, wobbly/floaty pixilation and all. Who stole Tessa's ab definition and replaced it with Gumby's?

So now in addition to "Flat Tessa" the Sham presents "Smooth Tessa."

For those who think she was just "heavier" - what do they think happened to the "heavier"?

I read this about the ice bucket challenge:

A few weeks ago, [Pete Frates'] family started the Ice Bucket Challenge. For those living in a cave and unaware of what it is, the challenge is simple. People dump buckets of ice water on their heads and call someone else out on social media to do the same within 24 hours. If a person refuses, he or she must donate money to an ALS organization.

Why are people choosing to dump the water on their head instead of donating money to ALS?

What are the odds Scott and Kaitlyn Lawes will ice bucket side by side?

Speaking of bare midriffs, I thought this was educational (more photos at the link).

This woman is 39 years old. From what I've read, she came damn close to doing her circus tricks in the delivery room. There are many people who believe that if even a high performance athlete is within two weeks of delivery, she best be bubble wrapped and kept indoors. Michelle Arvin (the mama-to-be in the images above and at the linked article) is not a high performance athlete. She's a fit woman with a specific skill set, more in the neighborhood of a yoga instructor or dancer. Local talent, not best in the world.

Michelle Arvin isn't crazy. Yet, no matter how much is on the internet about athletic, fit women and pregnancy, many people get all their pregnancy info from soap operas or Gone With the Wind. They believe tripping and falling is the biggest miscarriage risk. But, according to what I've been reading, the two primary athletic activities doctors and midwives discourage are scuba diving and marathons. If the mom is fit and the pregnancy healthy, the child is not at risk for being jostled, startled, or jarred out of the womb, absent a truly traumatic event such as a car accident.

P.S. No surprise, Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam did the icebucket challenge right:

240 comments:

That's a good point about ALS - Ice bucket challenge. Yes it may be a good cause but really these celebrities/athletes should remind folks that yes it raises awareness but please go ahead and give to the organization...Was wondering do you think Scott will actually get on twitter/instagram for this one thing? If I were him - I wouldn't...and yikes some of the tumblrs out there taking cheap shots at Ryan and Kaitlyn...

Both videos have such a spongy, uncanny valley quality. So does Joannie's. Scott loses his entire left foot at one point in his. It's the opposite of HD. High color saturation, low definition. Fungible definition, in fact. I wonder what they used to take the video - obviously popular, but surreal production value.

One of my local politicians announced that he was both doing the ice bucket challenge and also giving the money (telling the latter is actually kind of gauche). Tessa could be doing the same, without telling us about the money part. Of course she's using this as an opportunity to sham, but I'm not going to assume she has solely malicious intent. I think she's good at compartmentalizing - an opportunity to sham, and do a good deed at the same time! What balanced woman wouldn't!

I don't know if you were trying to imply that Tessa is a bad person because she opted to do the bucket instead of giving money, or just making a general point (which I kind of agree with because I think the whole thing is stupid and more about attention seeking). However, I think that the answer to "[w]hy are people choosing to dump the water on their head instead of donating money to ALS?" is that if they just chose to give the money, this wouldn't have gone viral. The chain would have ended quickly. It's the ice bucket part that gets it attention and maybe gets a couple of people to donate. If people just sent around a challenge to each other saying "donate $100 to ALS," hardly anyone would do it (maybe they would if this were a recent natural disaster, but not for a disease that has been around a long time).

It reminds me of the breast cancer gambit Jessica Dube participate in a couple of years ago. Answer a bunch of questions without revealing the questions, so the answer sounds salacious until it's learned the question was "where do you put your purse." all in the name of breast cancer "awareness".

I'm not sure how much "awareness" games like this one actually help the cause. This game was started by somebody suffering from ALS, but what type of "awareness" are we talking about? Awareness that it exists? What it is? That people still suffer from it. Awareness so that we can .. . what?

Everybody's heart is in the right place but the connection this sort of "awareness" creates with actually contributing somehow towards support or a cure is thin, in my eyes.

I want to piggyback something onto the discussion in the post below, which has gotten so unwieldy I can't even find some of my own recent comments even after I "load more." There's a bit of speculation about the dynamics in Scott and Tessa's relationship and the dynamics of the sham. One person speculated, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, that Scott and Tessa get frustrated when people on the blog or elsewhere don't buy what they're selling, and so they then decide to up the ante.

I want to say that Scott and Tessa already KNOW people don't buy what they're selling. Of course some people do, but I don't think they'd care if NOBODY did. They don't give a damn. This is their Summer Games. These people are blatantly looking for attention, and looking for it on this level. They've known for years now that these sorts of games create exactly this sort of discussion; therefore, this is exactly the sort of discussion they're setting out to generate. They want as much talk and speculation as they can get. They're egging it on. In BOTH directions, clearly. Not just in the "Oh when will these kids get together!" level of old, but the whole "How are they pulling it off - what DID they use on that video?" level, and the level of "Hmm, who is more behind this sham, Scott or Tessa?"

I think most celebs, and hopefully other people, are doing both: the video to raise awareness and still donating. It's viral enough that people will understand there's a donation aspect. I can't scroll through facebook without seeing at least 5 of these posts. And apparently the ALS foundation has raised over $2 million compared to $25,000 during the same time last year so people are donating.

I thought that I read it was dump a bucket of water to raise awareness AND still donate $20, or just flat out donate $50... Maybe that was a specific chapter or organization, but it was still a monetary donation if one went the route of celebrity status viral awareness. (Obviously, they could give more if they're so inclined).

As I said in the previous blog post comments, I was surprised she just didn't throw it to KL and Scott right off the bat so they could do it together, but then realized they probably left her so he could do the honors. Since WP took Patrick out of the running (theirs was hysterical, btw), he has no choice but to challenge his "gf". Time to branch this out to a new sport again...

8:45PM - have you ever inquired what raising awareness accomplishes or is meant to accomplish? If it's purely fund-raising, then why not raise money for ALS instead of "awareness" for ALS? What KIND of awareness, and what is supposed to follow awareness?

All causes need funds. If the entire point is to get funds, I don't see why it's called "awareness."

I don't have an answer, I just don't want to knee-jerk believe that "awareness" has just got to be actually useful.

The question asked in a lot of articles is does raising awareness actually do anything useful for the issue at hand, or is it a feel good one off that makes people feel they've done something for the cause? What does awareness accomplish, particularly with afflictions/illnesses? (I can see awareness having more effect for social justice concerns and to, one hopes, dispel ignorance.)

It's pointed out here that the icebucket challenge has raised money. That's a good thing, provided the ALS organizations that got the money are managed constructively.

I don't think it's that people aren't aware that ALS charities exists. Maybe the term shouldn't be awareness, but consciousness. Right now Robin Williams' death has a lot of people talking about depression and posting links to suicide prevention hotlines and appropriate charities. It's not like they didn't know those things existed before, but it's now a topic of discussion for a while. There are so many worthy causes/charities competing for peoples' attention and limited discretionary income and this ice bucket challenge is piquing interest in this topic for the time being. It's getting people to remember that this cause exists and want to donate.

With certain diseases, "awareness" itself is important if it means that people will take certain precautions (like condoms) or be more mindful of things and get them checked out (like skin lesions that change or lumps in the breast). In other cases the awareness might not apply to one's own risk of being afflicted but it could inform people of the challenges faced by the individual who has the disease and how to accommodate them (like severe food allergies).

I saw this article today and thought of this conversation: https://time.com/3107510/ice-bucket-challenge-als-we-need-to-do-better/

I think the author would agree with you that it shouldn't be about awareness for the sake of awareness, but this is a tool that could be explored to potentially spread actual relevant information next time:"In an age where hashtag activism and information-free awareness campaigns are becoming more and more common, we should be very conscious of how to make viral trends as useful as possible.

The Ice Bucket Challenge has done a lot of good. Let’s make sure the next one is even better."

Thanks for the link. Since I started this tangent, I'll quote what I think is the most relevant parts. (The journalist's father died of ALS about 20 years ago).

"But when I looked closer, I became uneasy. No wonder it took me weeks to learn the Ice Bucket Challenge was linked to ALS. Most of its participants, including Kennedy and Today’s Matt Lauer didn’t mention the disease at all. "The chance to jump on the latest trend was an end in itself. "

As hilarious as Scott was, he didn't mention the disease either. How about a shout out to challenge his buddies to donate as well as to dump the ice?

THAT is my problem with a lot of awareness initiatives. The focus is often on the gimmick (in this case, the ice bucket) and the supposed "awareness" becomes awareness of the gimmick, not the cause.

The article continues: "In fact, the challenge’s structure seems almost inherently offensive to those touched by ALS. Here’s how the ALS Association describes the rules:

“***The challenge involves people getting doused with buckets of ice water on video, posting that video to social media, then nominating others to do the same, all in an effort to raise ALS awareness. Those who refuse to take the challenge are asked to make a donation to the ALS charity of their choice.***

"That means everyone you’ve ever seen dump water on themselves, per the rules, is not asked to donate. They may choose to, but the viral nature of this fad appears centered around an aversion to giving to money. “Want to help fight this disease? No? Well, then you better dump some cold water on your head.”

The fact is the ice bucket challenge has raised money, as this article acknowledges, and that's good, if that's the entire purpose of "awareness." I don't even know how "aware" most of the participants have been, as few of them mention ALS when posting their videos or issuing their challenge.

3:08, I'm not being facile, but clearly Robin Williams' death wasn't an awareness gimmick. His death has a direct correlation to the issue - depression/suicide. Nobody's going to lose the connection. Robin Williams suffered from depression and has died because of it; people are at the moment hearing/becoming more aware of depression/suicide. No chance anybody will forget what they're meant to be aware of in connection with his passing.

Now, if a suicide prevention/depression support entity decided on an awareness gimmick featuring eating a blue frosted cupcake for lunch and tweeting the picture to someone who had to do the same in a social media chain effect, I think what would end up in the public's mind is blue cupcakes, not suicide/prevention.

The blog goes on these tangents on occasion because Tessa and Scott's p.r. is one of the blog's subjects and I think looking at marketing/p.r. overall is constructive at times.

This is 3:08. I understand what you are saying. I was just trying to make the point that there are lots of great causes out there that we don't necessarily say to ourselves we're going to donate to today, and sometimes a public event reminds us how important that issue is. Robin Williams and depression was just what sprang immediately to mind, although it is not the best example. And of course there is a much stronger nexus there between the "awareness" and the actual condition of depression.

Apparently people dumping ice water over their heads is bringing in the money. Considerably more money has been raised this year than in the past and when it comes to researching these diseases, every bit helps. You can actually do something with 2 million+ dollars compared to 25,000.

How about, "do your reading". I don't recall the blogger saying that it didn't bring money. "If a person refuses, he or she must donate money to an ALS organization.""Why are people choosing to dump the water on their head instead of donating money to ALS?" That doesn't feel wrong to you? And as someone said earlier (if you had "done your reading"), "a good cause but really these celebrities/athletes should remind folks that yes it raises awareness but please go ahead and give to the organization". If you'd maybe, "done a little thinking", you'd know bringing awareness to a condition isn't enough to raise money. Inspiring people to give is how it's done. High profile athletes choosing an ice water bucket over donations doesn't do much of anything, unless they also prompt people to give.

I think you should stick to tumblr(if that's where you're from), with your "shipping" and your fanfiction. That's likely your only strong point. And, "I'm being generous" ;)

Preach, 11.33. Why do these people fucking bother? The blog isn't going to change their minds but by the same token they're not going to change the blogger's mind (or shut down the blog, which is what they really want - freedom of speech really goes over these people's heads) or change the minds of the people who either know the truth or believe it to be true.

Regarding the other half of this post... all I'm gonna say is that video was from the front only, in black stretchy pants (her new favorite), pulled up to her belly button now. If you compare her initial profile pic to that video side by side her body/shape/abs/belly button do not look the same. I also think her chest looks bigger (unless she's got some push-up action in her sports bra-mine usually have the opposite effect). Independently though, she looks like a perfectly skinny and in-shape woman, bearing her flat "belly" for all to see.

Also, just an fyi for everyone throwing the word months around... months are a thing people use improperly to count a pregnancy. They don't correctly correlate with the actual weeks of pregnancy, so 4-5-6 months, etc. are going to vary greatly in what people actually mean/perceive. (I think she is a certain number of weeks, and so far nothing I've seen has dissuaded me otherwise, especially in comparing her to where she was in her last pregnancy at this point.)

Also look at her posture, hunching forward like that brings the stomach in and makes her abs look more defined than they really are. She's been posing like that in a lot of pictures lately and it's not usual for her.

No, the purpose of these pictures was to demonstrate that even a woman who shows traditionally looks flat from the front. Tessa looks to have stronger abs and is not showing as much at this point, and, as pointed out, her posture helps. She looks a little awkward standing like that but it's very effective.

If Tessa and team VM put half the effort into PR and skating politics than they do in the sham, they would have had a good chance of winning Sochi. Talk about misplaced priorities.

4:42, it's not something I want to believe, as I don't think it's a good idea to bring another child into this mess they've created. I'm certainly open to being convinced otherwise but you're more interested in laughing at people and insulting people them than presenting well thought-out arguments. Your choice.

I posted the pictures to show that angles do make a difference, because an anon was ridiculing the concept higher up in the comments. This woman's actually at a slight angle, the picture isn't completely from the front. If she had black pants up to her navel (instead of a skirt that deliberately highlights her belly) and was facing the camera it wouldn't be nearly as obvious. Moreso than with Tessa, sure, but Tessa has abs of steel, is not showing traditionally and is standing in an unnatural way that's impossible to do if you're running. Try out Tessa's posture with the head sticking out and see what happens to your stomach and abs. If your abs are strong enough and you've had some practice, you could keep them in the same position while reaching for the bucket and putting it over your head.

10:46. The thing is, up to Tessa's last public appearance in 2010, when there was confirmation of pregnancy, not just speculations, she still didn't look traditionally pregnant. For *her* she looked very different. But not necessarily "pregnant". She disappeared that last month and didn't reappear till sometime in early January 2011. Who knows if she finally got the traditional pregnant belly in that last month.

So in the last few months there are observable body changes again that remind of that other time. How is it ridiculous to speculate a pregnancy? It's true it seems this time no one has mentioned confirmation by a reliable source. In that respect, I agree so far it's merely speculations and not absolute certainty. There's room for respectful discussion and difference of opinion, don't you think?

As to the raising awareness for ALS--I think it's great. Every little bit helps, no matter if it's cheesy and some celebrities would only see it as a means of attention. Eh.

What I find more worthy of discussion is how this all ties into VM's regular summer shamming (this blog was created to follow and expose this sham?). This ALS challenge is the perfect lead-in for both Tessa and Scott creating public instagrams (I don't believe for a moment neither one has been without all the social media accounts--they obviously are very comfortable on social media--imo they've had private/anonymous accounts all along). It's also the perfect "excuse" for Scott to have a public twitter.

All of this just as they've launched a new sham gf and possibly a bf. What are the odds.

I think it's more about how they'll corrupt anything. IOW, it's both. Yeah, my brother had a baby and everybody's genuinely happy BUT we can also use the event to shove lies down people's throats. People struggle to believe we'd corrupt this event and actually use a newborn.

The key to my bond with Tessa is a powerful attachment/chemistry that we share, that underpins the most intimate aspects of our lives and our history - let's use it as masturbatory bait for our fans!

ALS is a fabulous cause - AND we can show people my Gumby belly with floating pixels!

So is this Tessa's way of showing us that she has a boyfriend who is not Scott ? Why else would she allow him to speak in her video ? Obviously she couldn't have done it in front of Scott because he's not supposed to see her in a sports bra. She'd get as embarrassed as the one time their lips accidentally touched and she got so shy she couldn't look him in the eyes.

I bet 50 bucks that Scott will challenge KL ( if she isn't doing it with him that is ) and Ryan S.

12:35I don't think Tessa did the challenge for the purpose of shamming. What I think is VM are looking for ways to create public instagrams and a twitter for Scott, and they see an opportunity. This helps avoid anyone saying they created public accounts in order to up the ante in their lies..."it was for the ALS challenge". Tessa wasn't obligated to create an instagram, she could just as easily posted her challenge on a friend's account. VM have been using others' accounts for years. Now suddenly they change tactics? They *have* to create public accounts? Please.

The reality show helped them feel much more emboldened and brazen. I think that's part of their greater comfort in what looks to be setting up for shamming on their own public accounts.

They've mainstreamed the sham. It used to be their little facebook, in-house enterprise with Moirville, Skate Canada, and media types covering/involved in skating. We see now that a raft of sponsors and non-sports celebrities and media believe actively hoaxing (lying, manipulating, gaslighting, setting up, selling blatant falsehoods and game playing) is legitimate marketing. Good to know, and something to remember down the line.

I really want to come here when every single one of you will finally realise there is no second pregnancy. Or later, when every single one of you will finally realise there was no first pregnancy either.

There were such amazing comments under the previous post like the comment about Scott jumping off the sofa and flying to Winnipeg just to make Tessa happy. All of this come from people who have never met TS, know nothing about what's true and are only desperate to believe everything oc says. Why you think you're better than tumblr posters? You really think your fictional stories are so smart eh?

3:59pm - the conversation you're referring to was a bunch of fan speculation similar to the speculation that went on when fewer fans believed Scott and Tessa were together. I permitted it because it's the only place to talk about these things and the participants acknowledged they were spitballing/speculating about motives, dynamics, etc. To an extent that's okay because lord knows Scott and Tessa get off on all of it, as their public remarks reveal and as the reality show demonstrated.

I think you're going to have a long wait before Scott and Tessa's status is officially acknowledged and everybody realizes what it is. They're married parents. If they're not intending to compete in the next Olympics, they're certainly keeping the idea in play, and that's one way to stall coming clean and continue to get the attention they obviously love to agitate.

"I really want to come here when every single one of you will finally realise there is no second pregnancy. Or later, when every single one of you will finally realise there was no first pregnancy either."

Considering that V/M are in fact married with a child, you're going to be waiting, well...forever until that day.

You know what's going to happen, is 3:59 is going to come here and proclaim how happy he/she is that Scott and Tessa "got away with it" for so long, didn't succumb to the blog's bullying, and good for them. They had every right.

The reason everyone who sees them together believes they're together (even if they have no clue who they are) is one of many "hints."

A myriad of contradictory statements over the years. Personal confirmation from people I respect (no, I'm not OC).

Life experience that tells me conclusively the fantasy of "platonic passion" is just that. A fantasy made up by some clown writing about Tessa and Scott and covering up for them. There's no such thing.

I could go on. Why don't you read the blog and start making a list of all the hints mentioned. Then come back and deconstruct them so we can see why they aren't "hints" after all. That would be an honest discussion of differing views instead of you throwing out statements you haven't backed up.

Is there a new troll here?Hey new troll. Read the blog. All your mocking attempts at countering the blog have been done multiple times. Answers have been given multiple times. No need to start this over again.

helloI'm not a troll and I've read a lot. I just don't count speculations, which are completely fictional and have absolutely no base, as answers. These people don't even deny they make things up (what Tessa thinks, what Tessa says to Scott, what Scott thinks etc).

If its a sham then congrats on your success, Tessa and Scott. Everyone believes you besides a couple of oc's fans who keep repeating themselves

Is this supposed to be in response?Also, country music AND a celebrity golf tournament? She also had another one yesterday. Don't know of he's actually at these or not (no pics/reports surfaced yet, that I've seen), but either way I'm guessing it's at least supposed to be assumed.Shams involving hockey, cooking, golfing and country/music, eh? (think that just about covers all we've had thus far). They've planned this one well... Certainly makes it more bearable. ;)

I'd be willing to believe that Tessa is maybe 3-4 months pregnant but not as far along as some people seem to want to make her. The fact is that her breasts are huge (for her) and she has lost the definition in her abs. There's a pic of her at a restaurant from a few days ago, where she's sitting and her lower abdomen is looking a bit less than flat.

Yeah, I'd like to see that picture too.I know I keep talking about it, but I swear I've never seen her mess with her clothes/costume so much as she does during those finales... Maybe the camera was just really good at coincidentally being on her every single time she was messing with it (all 9 times in the most recent). Which is ironic since she really isn't showing that much yet for it to be that big of a deal-as we've seen on here, the world thinks she's perfectly flat and skinny as ever... but the constant tugging and pulling down whenever she's not waving or hugging someone... goodness! That repetitive self-conscious action alone should at least raise an eyebrow.

Wow, that's quite the fabric pattern... I see what you mean (both chest and tummy). I also like her leg up and arm placement. WTH are they doing... looking at mug shots? ;)Those women look familiar. Feel like I should recognize them. Help?

Again, it's just good to keep in mind for down the line - however far down the line it gets; the willingness of the Canadian mainstream to help hoax the public. Yes, there are legitimate partnerships, but they are almost always conscripted to help promote the hoax as well, while appealing to the public for its support.

The topic of game playing has been raised when it comes to Tessa/Scott and the public, particularly those that know they're hoaxing. I think the stakes in the game are actually "Whose fault is it" that Tessa and Scott have lied as much as they've lied. Every single part of their narrative sets the table for it being our fault. It's a ridiculous game because the media controls the narrative and the celebrities control the media narrative, so there's no need for them to even play.

12:07, That's the thing though - during CSOI it seemed like her face kind of ballooned up a bit (for her) and has since thinned out considerably. I don't remember that happening last time? Her face pretty much stayed larger through December. It's confusing me a bit, in the larger context. Not arguing against pregnancy - I truly have no clue either way.

It all has to do with hormones and water weight, which can fluctuate in a pregnancy. The first few days in China her little face was so round, then she seemed to slim out some as the tour went on. This could have been attributed to many factors, but I do think she actually lost some weight (not much, and didn't change her overall squared off shape) while over there. Her chest is what has looked like it's changed the most and progressively every time I've seen her lately though... both tennis events, her video, and that pic above, (concert and obviously boat pics are less helpful).

So, I was just thinking... I wonder if Scott will even do this (for now)? I mean, he doesn't have social media, so how would he know he's even been challenged? Because they're (supposedly) on opposite sides of the country, and it's not like they talk to each other outside of skating, you know...I could definitely see them using this instance to perpetuate that idea of the sham. I think he will do it eventually, but he if he claims he didn't know, that by proxy means that they didn't talk/she didn't let him know outside of social media. But of course he would have done it sooner, if only he had known! Especially since it's to raise money for a good cause...

That's a reasonable point - he's not on social media. How will he be able to find out he was challenged? I suppose somebody with a social media presence will have to tell him. Perhaps somebody close to him who already follows Tessa on twitter, and is herself very enthusiastic about public outreach.

As I said in the post below, some people believe all pregnant women show because when they've seen pregnant women who aren't showing, they didn't realize the woman was pregnant. And after this blog I now realize many people believe the biggest risk of miscarriage is any sort of activity more strenuous than ambling down the sidewalk. Use more exertion and you might trip and fall. We all know how easily babies are jostled out of the womb.

Speaking of "raising awareness", it occurred to me that "Scott and Tessa" was a missed opportunity for Scott and Tessa to use the reality show to plug some of the charities they claim to support, to show by example how you can volunteer at, for instance, the Humane Society. It could have easily been worked into an account of some of their off-ice activities and been some positive p.r. Maybe not as constructive as dumping ice water on your head, but a missed opportunity, nevertheless.

And finally there's something off about the ice water video Tessa posted on instagram, and it's not just the fact that she's squared off facing the camera.

Thank you for posting that 12:09. I also met with a woman today-30 weeks and some days-who with a shirt on did not look pregnant at all. And I don't mean baggy shirt that hid, I mean straight down from her chest and no bump showing through. Without the shirt, you could see the bump, but it was almost all below her belly button, and from the front, straight on you could only tell standing right up next to her. You could see her ribs and some indentation below that before her belly started. This woman also did not start off with ridiculous abs, and was perhaps a tad shorter-should make it even more apparent, but generally the same build. I think Tessa is still weeks away from her as well. Just sayin' it happens in real life.

^^lol.. yep, i sure did lol.When you speak against things that are the truth, it only makes you look more ignorant. As is said over and over on this blog re: Tessa/Scott/LM, you can choose to believe or not believe real life experiences others have, but that doesn't mean they did not happen. If I had thought is was appropriate to ask this woman if I could take her picture to put on some random blog to help prove a point (that wouldn't change whether Tessa actually is pregnant or not-I believe she is), I would have. But it was not. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine, but why are you here and wasting your time reading post after post of stuff that (according to you) isn't true...

8:19 - so you don't believe pregnant women like that exist? I mean, whether or not you believe 6:15PM/9:13PM met someone like that, do you think women like that are akin to unicorns? Or have you decided even if there are women who do carry like that, Tessa Virtue would not be one of them.

9:13 - A lot of the rants and pseudo-outrage in the comments section are similar in tone. I was looking at the comment below, indignant that I'd "called out an Olympian!" This person has plenty of time to rant, but absolutely no time or capacity to understand what they read. That they led with "called out an Olympian!" makes me think we've got a celebrity worshipper here, who sees celebrities as authorities. After all - Oprah! ZOMG. I'm going to use a new post to talk about this more (so the comments section can open up again), but there's a whole category of Virtue Moir fans who, despite all of the evidence of the past four years, are afraid if we criticize Virtue Moir publicly, we'll chase them off social media, or they'll stop appearing in public at all. These are people for whom thinking about something seems to be an unreasonable activity.

Isn't it funny how KL has to retweet every picture she's in? Really? So now, of course, you better believe we're going to see every single one of them together, no matter when it's from. She doesn't need to post any of her own-for now. She can just take all of them from everyone else. Also, seems like this person knows them already. So helpful, their friends are.

Yeah, I've had the same thought 9:13... At least from her Twitter, she's all about herself and especially with that OGM if she can get it in there... after the Olympics it made sense, but so many months out of it over and over again is definitely overkill.

Without knowing anything about Lawes, it's a safe bet she's someone with an abnormal desire / need for attention. Also someone with a skewed sense of integrity where it concerns a self-benefit.

For any girl to agree to participate she has to have those characteristics and probably some more not-so-nice issues. It was evident with the previous gf's this one has to be cut of the same cloth or she wouldn't even consider it.

I've never seen any other public figure retweet every single picture with themselves in it. The rest of the Jennifer Jones team doesn't seem quite as desperate as Kaitlyn, nor any other recent Olympian for that matter.

I'm curious to know how Kaitlyn ended up signing up for this in the first place. Cassandra was still the Official Girlfriend leading up to and through Sochi and then suddenly she was gone. Did Kaitlyn approach Tessa and Scott while in Russia and say, "Hey! I have a desperate need for attention!"?

It's been surmised that Cassandra was brought on board specifically for the reality show. The reality show purported to show them training in Michigan and running home on weekends. If Jessica were still in the role, the logistics would have been disruptive to their actual lives.

Once Sochi was over and the reality show was done, Cassandra in the role became inconvenient. It's much more convenient to have a fake girlfriend who, like Jessica, doesn't live in your hometown and is often on the road. Scott and Tessa aren't going to be back on the competitive circuit until at least 2015 (if we're lucky). It becomes inconvenient to have a fake gf close at hand.

Yes, the timing of everything is ridiculous, but we all see that they realize they don't need anything to be plausible. It's all mainstreamed now.

I don't know anything about Lawes, but she, along with her teammates, are extremely enthusiastic self-promoters and have been since the gold medal.

As to Lawes' motives, there are plenty of reasons, as Anabelle Bucsis's history demonstrated, for one. She may want to conceal her real love life, gay or straight. Plenty of people have significant others who don't like the spotlight. It's cross-promotion. She's on social media to promote herself and her sport via her gold medal win; she's also on social media to promote her sponsors. That's also very convenient. Her social media profile is built right in and the sham is just folded in, a lot of Canadian athletes are all on the same lists that get them invited to the same personal appearances and promotional events. Promotional events (which include concerts) are the new Moirville summer weddings.

I wonder if Lawes was told "but there's this one blog that calls us out on all our shit, so some people will know what BS this was, but it's ok."

Actually come to think of it, any attention is good attention. How many more google searches is she getting cause of this very blog? How many people are following her on twitter and instagram because they know of her on the blog? All of those are quantifiable measures of "popularity" and could even be monetized. I'm pretty sure a lot of potential sponsors want to see those numbers and negotiate based on those numbers.

This is actually what I've seen other semi-celebrities do to capitalize on new fame, particularly niche fame. They work social media exactly like this. It's fame whorish, but it's the exact same template followed by all of them.

There's something else to consider about Jessica, which is that she's also a public figure in the skating world. For all intents and purposes, Cassandra Hilborn was anonymous. It would have been weird for Jessica to appear in "Tessa and Scott" as the girlfriend and not be interviewed about it, for example.

9:01Believe me. The premise of this blog is true. And yes, Scott's antics with his succession of fake girlfriends has been sad and awkward for a very long time.

But there's no need to pity Mr. Moir. He thinks he's smart and cool. About the "genuine us" portrayed in their fanfic reality show he said the fans had to accept it "whether they like it or not". *That* is his genuine sincere attitude about his role in this hoax. Clearly, the more he and Tessa can gaslight, manipulate and mock the fans, the better. No one should have positive expectations about these new social media games. Moir already made his real attitude known.

"No one should have positive expectations about these new social media games."

Right? I love all the fans that are *so excited* for him to get a Twitter/Instagram/whatever... what exactly do they think they're going to get from him? First of all, he's done the social media thing before, and it didn't go so well for fans... Second, it's purpose is for shamming, so it's going to be so OTT, but they'll still buy every single word and picture. And then just be sad and lament and wine about it. Ugh.

Yeah it was pretty funny. I recognize some of the guys. Can someone identify the others?Of course Tessa hasn't followed him or commented yet...because she probably was busy or asleep and doesn't know he did this...rolls eyes.At least he had the decency to follow her before anyone else and no KL yet on twitter...don't have an instagram so don't know who he's following there...and didn't nominate her, so we're not completely whoring ourselves out right away. I'm sure it's coming. Lawes is on it though because of course she's now following him. We're probably supposed to think she helped him make it. Fwiw, she's also following WP now too.

I like how they're going to talk to each other on social media now like they don't talk to each other any other way. Another one of those implied aspects of the shamming, i.e. if they communicate on Twitter that means they don't see each other to say it in person.

9:01 a.m. - although, to be fair, Tanith Belbin used to communicate with Charlie White via twitter; can't recall if this was before or after they admitted to dating. It's not that unusual for SO's or family members to tweet each other; all depends on what the tweets imply.

Oh yeah, I have friends and family that communicate that way too, and VM probably will use it for real on occasion and be cute...I just meant that with everything else they've already laid out (they have separate lives and significant others, etc.), and have yet to do, it serves as another way to subconsciously perpetuate that agenda.

I don't understand this game of not following "bf/gf"s right of the bat.If this were all legit, Lawes should have been followed in the first round (she followed him immediately)...and Tessa was almost a month in before she decided to follow the her supposed "bf" (and Scott's "gf" so "coincidentally" back to back...). Even if one uses the argument Semple doesn't really use it, my bf would still be one of the first people I would follow, especially if I was so "new" to the whole social media scene, as he's been doing this for awhile.If we're taking reality/the sham, I would still expect her to follow Ryan in the first group because if I wanted people to think this guy was my real bf as badly as they appear to, following him on Twitter is one of the easiest ways to accomplish that in the vein of her shams. And why is he still choosing not to follow Lawes, although I'm sure it's coming now. It's not like they're trying to play the coy, pretend like we're not really a couple because we don't want everyone to know and invade our lives angle, since she's all about posting every picture of them together that's out there at the moment.It just doesn't make sense to me. Any (legitimate) thoughts other than it's all part of the agenda and they have their reasons?

That's the usual strategy with Scott: pretend to be private and let the "gf" broadcast the relationship. Of course she'd never do that without his agreement so it ends up looking weird but for some reason they think it makes sense. Fans have speculated the gf does this out of jealousy and Scott puts up with it, maybe that's the narrative they're going for. It would be a little more believable if each girlfriend didn't act in the exact same way and if he hadn't featured one of them on his reality show.

Tessa's never been on social media before but she's supposed to be a very private person (who accidently posts a picture of herself wearing a skier's jacket and forgets to edit out her boyfriend's voice from her video-oops!) Adding Ryan right away would be seen as a confirmation of the relationship and she wants to keep her private life private. Such a shame she's so bad at it.

It's indirect sham: Tessa's spending some time at a lake while Scott is somewhere else entirely with his buddies. I think their Twitter accounts will mainly be used to prove how separate they are while the actual sham with Lawes will be kept to other accounts. That way they keep their hands "clean".

1:52You're making up your own underlying story. Canada, including Western Ontario, is full of lakes and forests. Within an hours drive of anywhere. Tessa at a lake means nothing, it's not like Scott can't be there within the hour. Not only that, why the heck do people believe these sorts of pictures *prove* anything? You're being played, Don't buy it.

All this picture says is Tessa is at a lake. In Canada that's not a big deal. Ho-hum. Even if she were to put up a picture of her with one other individual (like some guy who isn't Scott) there's no way of knowing how many other people are around, or are coming and going throughout a week or a weekend. It's like Scott's beach sham pictures. It pretends romantic get-away when in fact there are most likely many friends and family members along for the annual vacation.

2:06. 2:00 here. I never said Scott rushed to Tessa. I said he could if that's what he wanted. It's not true you "don't have anything else." You have the last 8-9 years of observable facts about Tessa and Scott and them not liking each other or avoiding each other's company is not a fact, no matter how much they try to imply it.

You also don't have the whole world outside of the camera lens. No one, wherever you stand on VM's status, should make conclusions or assumptions based on some freaking photos that can be manipulated, posed and labeled in any way regardless of reality. It's just Tessa on a boat. Geez. It does not tell a story. AT ALL.

1:52pm - the facts are they are married and have a daughter. It's not a theory. If you think the blog is lying, that is your perogative, but the comments section is not a place to host a discussion about what you think is REALLY true.

Not that it really matters or changes anything, but how do we know S is in Ilderton (or was at the time of the video, which could have been done the same day as T's)? Is there an identifying feature, or are we just assuming because there was a truck, it had to have been on a "farm"?

@1:52.....you're comment is so absurd!!! They don't like to hang out together?! Have you ever watched anything with VM? They clearly love being together and Mr Moir just loves Tessa to bits. Open your eyes.

4.04 Ok, they love each other as business partners and they genuinely love spending their business time together. But its different on day offs when they want to meet their friends and be with their SO's. This is not smth outta this world,I also love people I work with

OC's job is to keep the spotlight on the sham. That way, Tessa and Scott don't have to work so hard to get sham messaging out, and all those who are interested in the sham have one convenient place for all their sham needs. It's a win/win for everyone.

@4:33...it's not so much the whole business partners...look at any practice video--there's always some element of "petting" happening. I don't have a set of facts like others but I do have a set of eyes ...they LOVE each other romantically ..period. And have you not seen the picture of Tessa with Ashley Wagner in that leopard dress from All That Skate 2010? Again, eyes are needed...she is so crazy preggo in that picture you'd be a fool to deny it..and yeah, it's a belly.

The biggest problem with the showmance theory is the myriad of contradictions, bizarre coincidences and patterns in the way they present their personal lives to the public. And I'm not sure why they would make such a point of showing just how not-a-couple they are off the ice, it kind of goes against the whole point of a showmance, no? When D/W were trying to sell their newfound connection, suddenly Charlie and Tanith's relationship went on the down-low. V/M do the opposite, the more couple-like they act, the more they counteract with significant others and totally-not-a-couple messaging.

@12:15...no not the showmance. Are u new to all that is VM? What about the Sochi gala practice when all the figure skaters were there and one of them was behind the other with their arms around their waist. And no answer for the 2010 pregnant belly?

Oh how cute. Scotty spent the weekend with his girlfriend at the beach/country festival and is now hangin' with his buddies, while Tessa is off on another rendezvous with her ex-that's-not-really-her-ex-anymore, again. But they're really good supportive best friends! #soproudOr, in reality, he shammed last weekend while she worked and now they're having a nice family and maybe friends summer vacay at a lake, to which Ryan may or may not have been invited as well, as a thanks for using his name for the sham once again. I was actually a little surprised Scott didn't stay with KLawes to play golf this week, but I guess he had to get back home to his family and real life and all that. ;)Although, I wonder if it wasn't for the ALS thing if he was just supposed to lay low while on vacay so it was presumed he was still out there with her while T was busy with her "bf".

@4:29PMIf the blog's premise is only a theory, one of many, then what you say is correct. You can't know anything from a photo. That's the issue here.

Put aside your personal biases for a moment and imagine VM in real life are a married couple with a child. So then, as with any solid married couple you know, if you see only one of them in a photo isn't it natural to assume what's outside of the frame includes the rest of the family in some way?

And what if you were to know for sure (not theory) this is a couple that is devoted to each other and there are no side-relationships going on whatsoever. In that case, there's no hand-wringing over whether/if the spouse is really a spouse. If they really love each other. If.... (fill in the blank).

Add to this, it's a couple who is known to be big on family. They have a close relationship with the extended family on both sides and this is something important to them. *Of course* then it's also assumed what's outside of the frame more than likely, and more often than not, includes many members of those families.

You can sail your personal ship in whichever direction you want. Fine. But don't tell those of us who know *for a fact* what VM's real status is that maybe/maybe not Tessa is playing GF with some guy or that Scott is playing BF with some girl. We know they aren't. And you know what? Knowing for a fact they're a couple also takes away all the anxiety and speculation as to what Tessa may doing in a boat with a skier's jacket on. Whatever she's doing, she's not cheating on Scott and she's not spending time away from Scott nor her daughter. We're not playing around with "theories" here.

You choose not to believe what blogger says he/she knows for a fact and what others have confirmed that they also know. That's your choice. It still doesn't change any of the facts.

You know what 4:29? You're absolutely right. I don't know that. It was a possible explanation. You know what else? It doesn't really matter. You know why? Because whether they're having serious family bonding, or Tessa and Scott are doing their own thing apart from each other for the week (married people do do that on occasion, despite the frequent assertions on here that if they're not glued together all the time, they're not together), it doesn't change the status of their relationship/family. What I *do* know is that Tessa is not spending a romantic week at the lake with her ex/not ex "bf".

I'm starting to worry now about whether VM are staying. I was pretty firmly in the "it's possible" camp, but now I'm wondering if they didn't join twitter to drop sham because they're losing out on the convenience of the skating media and the opportunities to have their fake SOs be "spotted" at competitions.

I'm also concerned now about the ramifications of this latest round of shamming if they do stay in. I can already see the same patterns as four years ago... Tessa is "so fat" and they're showing "how much they enjoy life without each other"... they make training seem like a burden, and something they don't do as often or as hard as others (even many VM fans believe they haven't trained at all this summer).

So maybe they are thinking like last time Tessa will lose the weight, they'll show up and still dazzle everyone and be in winning form. And I believe 100% that they are capable of that. I have no doubt that if the compete they will be the best by miles.

However, they are already setting up the narratives that can be used against them this entire quad. They learned nothing! People like Doris and other idiots can use all of the material that's being put up now. Next year they'll say that VM's hearts aren't in it, that they are making a pathetic attempt to come back because they lost. No matter how great they are, there will a sense of how dare they take all summer off and then just think they can waltz in and steal WP's national title just based on their past accomplishments. Tessa is so out of shape, he can hardly lift her and blah blah blah. They'll talk about how it's so obvious they can hardly stand each other anymore and are phoning in all of their performances, and how sad it is that they couldn't move on when so clearly all they want is a break from each other.

The question is really - is there another team that the US has in mind already to win the next OGM? If so, they will use all of this information to tear VM down just like DW did. If not, maybe VM have a chance. I still think they can change course, if they get some professional PR and start working the angle about how seriously committed they are. If I were them, I would say that doing AOI and working when Shen/Zhao and Plushenko really showed them what it means to be dedicated and how much longevity is possible in a career.

"The question is really - is there another team that the US has in mind already to win the next OGM? If so, they will use all of this information to tear VM down just like DW did. If not, maybe VM have a chance. I still think they can change course, if they get some professional PR and start working the angle about how seriously committed they are. If I were them, I would say that doing AOI and working when Shen/Zhao and Plushenko really showed them what it means to be dedicated and how much longevity is possible in a career."

It doesn't matter what the hell V/M say in their PR. They could have the most amazing PR ever and still lose. It's all up to skating politics. If the ISU and various feds think V/M's time is over, it's over. Period. That's how the skating game works.

I agree it doesn't matter what the hell V/M say in their PR, because they'll still lose. OTOH they played into the ISU narrative. The ISU is corrupt as fuck, but I don't think anybody in skating, even them, is a brain trust. IOW, it might have been trickier for the ISU to narrate DW into a gold medal if VM hadn't cooperated so completely. Their hands, however, were tied, not just because they preferred to use p.r. to promote lies rather than skating, but because Scott's family is part of Skate Canada, promotes Canadian Skating, and tries to get as much support for and participation in the system (which includes the ISU) as it can. Once Skate Canada got on board with throwing Tessa and Scott under the bus, how could Moirville (or Scott and Tessa) have pushed back without hurting business? Or that's how they could have thought. I often think Moirville OVERthinks, and in the wrong direction.

Obviously, we can't say for sure how things would have been different, but it seems to me that PR was one of the biggest tools in DW's toolkit. Most of the judges knew they didn't deserve their medals (although that Aussie Willy person convinces me there are truly oblivious ones), so a lot of the story was about making it acceptable for the public that these non-skaters should win. That's more important than justifying what happens on ice. It slays me to think that the lasting judging controversy of Sochi is Sotnikova. I can see the arguments against her, but at least she's an actual skater doing the actual assigned elements (to whatever quality you want to assess them), and her win is clearly more supportable than DW's any way you slice it. Through PR, DW positioned themselves as hard-working, deserving champions. Every time someone had a critique of them, they came up with some PR angle that covered it, until we literally got down is up and up is down and the "experts" were saying DW had a better connection than VM.

So, it would have been nice for VM to not play into that. I don't know if that single-handedly would have helped, but at least like 6:46 is saying, they didn't have to lie down and die.

As far as "pushing back," I agree that "pushing back" could not have meant attacking DW. That would have been ill-advised. With that said, I don't think standing up for themselves and not making themselves seem like complete losers would have been "pushing back." If their reality show portrayed them as intense, healthy athletes, sharing a singular goal, as committed to the sport and each other as ever, I don't see how it could have hurt them in any way, or been seen as attacking DW or the ISU.

It's unspoken, but obvious, in the skating community (even the forums) that VM outskated DW at the Olympics and GPF. I think the pro-DW faction is hanging onto "Well, but they really fucked up on the Grand Prix that season and Carmen was riddled with mistakes." They wildly exaggerate the flaws from the 2013 fall season to sort of back up that DW deserved to win "overall" for the past two seasons. The consensus I get seems to be that it was almost presumptuous of VM to skate so well at GPF and Olympics, after "screwing up so much" the last couple of years, like how dare they think they can come out and outskate DW at the last minute and take what they have worked so hard to achieve? The reality show plays into that, as "proof" of what a hot mess they were before GPF. Of course, the skating politics and PR come into play because even with mistakes, VM were vastly better, and it was never supposed to be a two-horse race, because many other couples should have been ahead of DW.

My concern is that IF another team is so inclined, this quad is already starting off with the same material for the same narratives. DW didn't exist in a vacuum. A lot of people/things enabled it and if the USFS or ISU wants to start the cycle again with someone else, VM have already laid that groundwork.

Anon 10:32, I agree with you completely, but all of D/W's PR wouldn't have mattered a lick if there wasn't an agenda aleady in place to give D/W the gold. Whether that agenda was engineered by the USFSA or the ISU (or both), we don't know, but there was obviously an agenda in place for D/W to be the first US OGM in ice dance. Why D/W specifically is a mystery, because they couldn't have found two more talentless hacks than those two, especially when you consider that there is quite a bit of depth in ice dance in the US. D/W shouldn't have even made it out of their own Nationals.

Anon 11:55: The Shibs (who should be national champs several times over), Hubbell/Donahue, and Aldridge/Eaton, because they all actually skate and dance instead of faking it like D/W and D/W lite, Chock/Bates.

Right, but in terms of the rulebook? Being a good dancer isn't valued much in the current system and D/W are good skaters, not great, but certainly much better than Aldridge/Eaton. I think you'd have a very hard time finding any ice dance expert who'll agree with you.

I haven't watched enough Aldridge/Eaton to have an opinion about them, but I'm skeptical of comments like "you'd have a very hard time finding any ice dance expert who'll agree with you." That sounds like the stuff Prancer said during the Olympics. Ice dancing is only knowable by certain experts and we all have to believe them? Why can't 12:02 form his or her own opinions based on observation? If your problem is that the argument was not supported, then ask for support, not experts who agree.

I think there's an argument that C/B are better than D/W. Certainly H/D and the Shibs are. No question for me. With C/B I feel like at least Bates is a strong skater, which neither Davis nor White are. Chock is usually running and leaping to catch up with him, but at least he does edgework that is driving the program and the speed. That kind of disparity is obviously not good, but with DW you have two skaters running and leaping *because that's all they can do* and they are just dragging each other around, separating, and doing it again. CB's lifts are better too. I don't know how consistent they are with twizzles and stuff because I pretty much only watch them once or twice a year.

But where in the rulebook do you lose points for running, leaping and pulling? A little in skating skills and transitions, that's it. D/W struggle to change directions but they do a decent job in the short segments of a step sequence. Meryl's bobbing up and down is not supposed to be penalized in the GOE, an ugly position in a lift only results in a loss of GOE if it's seriously ugly (and they're not usually that bad), lack of alignment in the twizzles is apparently OK, etc. The rulebook is practically written for D/W.

But the flip side of that question is, where are DW GAINING points? Whenever they're not on an edge, they shouldn't be gaining points. That's why a team like VM, who show superb edge control throughout the program, shouldn't be penalized for the couple of running steps in Seasons.

It's not that their lifts are ugly, but they are completely mediocre. What do they even do that merits above zero? What is good about their lifts compared to teams that placed 20th? Nothing much that I can see.

What is so great about their twizzles that starts them from a +3? They don't have superior (or even good) speed, control, or ice coverage. They don't qualify for the bonus of varying the twizzles for the music; that's not a requirement, but it's a way to earn extra GOE. Why do DW get all the extra GOE without meeting that, or any of the other requirements?

When you say that DW would only lose a little bit for skating skills and transitions, is that from a start of 10? Why? What merited the 10? If they're not demonstrating good skating skills, why do they start from a 10, when mid-level couples with the same or better skills don't?

Looking at these criteria: http://icedanceanalysts.blogspot.ca/2013/11/technical-elements-score-tes-score-for.html

They should maybe be starting from the 5s when they're ON.

That's my problem. I'm not saying you're doing this, 3:17, but my problem is with the judging and conversation about DW always starting from the argument that they're perfect, and technically equal in ability to VM or another literally ideal dance team, and then it becomes about counting the "mistakes" or seeing where they should "lose" points. But they never should have gained those points or been in that position in the first place.

"My problem is with the judging and conversation about DW always starting from the argument that they're perfect, and technically equal in ability to VM or another literally ideal dance team, and then it becomes about counting the "mistakes" or seeing where they should "lose" points. But they never should have gained those points or been in that position in the first place."

Amen. If CoP is written for DW, then it's written for every lousy team and there should be a crowd surging around the top step of the podium.

I think 3:54 has a point in the perceptions given by VM's PR and how that plays in the overall stories. It doesn't matter if the ISU has a predetermined winner, a skater/team doesn't have to roll over and play dead. VM effectively handed the ISU/DW some great pro-DW PR on a silver platter.

I think it's true that VM's zeal for shamming ends up stripping away so many positives that should be said about them as skaters. DW's PR machine made a big deal of the whole idea of "hard workers." It's ridiculous, because of course all elite skaters are extremely hard workers, but VM's PR never challenged. Instead, per their reality show they struggle with all sorts of important issues in team skating, like connection and a good relationship. All of it a bunch of BS but that's the narrative. ]So this summer it's the same thing all over again. VM make it too easy for idiot (but influential) fans like Doris to build complete sandcastles on things like, Tessa and Scott aren't such hard workers, they don't take their skating seriously anymore, Tessa gained weight, they're struggling, they can't stand each other.... all those things. Of course it hurts VM's perception, even if it's all lies. That's how the game works.

VM may be trying out new sham/PR methods in their current public social media. Too bad underneath it all nothing is changed. It's sham-focused and not skating-focused. Like that crap reality show. Such a huge disappointment how little it was about the skating. The skating was only peripheral as it served to enhance the relationship storylines. Same is going to happen with twitter and instagram. If they should decide to compete again they will have dug themselves some nice holes that others can use to tear them down and build themselves up,such as DW did with the "hard workers" storyline and the implication VM aren't hard workers. VM were happy to oblige with that impression, and they still are today.

The other side of this coin is, why the hell do VM have such an aversion to letting anyone see them skate and train together? To publicize that they're working hard *together*? You know they are or they wouldn't be so prepared for every show. But from here to there all they blab about is the separate lives and they put out photos of the "separate lives" and not a word about their training *together.* Stupid stupid stupid.

"The other side of this coin is, why the hell do VM have such an aversion to letting anyone see them skate and train together? To publicize that they're working hard *together*? "

"Together" is a commodity. When Scott had his fan facebook, he declared it was for fans because his "personal" facebook had reached its limit and was being shut down (he didn't shut it down). Then he proceeded to share absolutely nothing of his professional life with Tessa on his facebook. ONCE he was shamed into showing a selfie with Tessa on a bus, mostly because he'd been caught setting up fans by asking them for profile pic suggestions.

These people have been trained to see their chemistry, stuff of them together, as a commodity. It's not privacy, it's not protecting the sham, because we saw in their reality show they had no problem whatsoever showing them sitting together on a plane, sitting together on a bus, eating out together, walking around together, on a sight seeing boat together. But they were getting paid.

IOW they're controlling the product. They want to be paid or otherwise have it directly benefit them. "Good will" and "smart thing to do as competitive athletes" obviously isn't something either one perceives as a benefit.

"sitting together on a bus, eating out together, walking around together, on a sight seeing boat together. But they were getting paid."

And that is how they've managed their "story" all along, isn't it. If there's a financial benefit they allow pictures of them together to get out to the public. Otherwise, the public is only good enough for the narratives with the fake SO's. In that case, they don't mind how much is dumped on social media. Nice.

Financial, relationship (professionally speaking), promotional, branding. It's not the thing itself. They're so stingy on social media it looks like overkill for sham/privacy reasons, until you realize they'd gladly cuddle in the same bed (platonically) for cash. Look at their book. Look at the reality show. It's not about privacy. It's control.

Holy cow, you are crazy....how many hours do you spend on this out of touch with reality blog...what do you do for a living to enable you to obsess for years over something made-up? You have a serious obsession...the sickest part is the clearly flat stomached pics, with you analysing to death how this really is a pregnant girl. It's like watching a train wreck...I just have to drop back in intermittently to see how these ludicrous rationalizations unfold as the next few months go by.

Anyone even know how/why he was pulled into this in the first place? Fedor and Jess make sense, from what I gather David was an unfortunate (or fortunate depending on who's looking at it I suppose) accident and the other girls for name/fame... he just seems out of place. I'm sure there's some connection, just don't see it, but I also wasn't over here his first time around, so wasn't sure if I missed something?

OMG I forgot about the vagina sailor account. That was around the time that he disappeared from Tessa's orbit and thought he was gone for good. What a catch, eh Kate Virtue? So much better than that Scott Moir guy!

I think 11:04 was referring to the reality of Kate Virtue allowing this sham to go on. I don't know directly whether she likes Scott, but if she's obsessed with appearances, and she cooperates in this sham, the inference would be that she finds the idea of her daughter fully acknowledging her marriage to Scott to be more distasteful than the sham.

Scott and Tessa are adults. They don't behave like it, but if they're controlled by their parents, it's on them. That said, I don't know where this version of Kate:

"I think 11:04 was referring to the reality of Kate Virtue allowing this sham to go on."

comes from. Yes, Tessa hypes up her connection to her mother. Tessa hypes up a lot of stuff that isn't true. This doesn't mean she's not close to her mom; it MAY mean her mom doesn't control what she does. From what's in the public sphere alone, her mom doesn't. Her mom says she called a meeting attempting to get Tessa to re-look her decision to reject the offer from the ballet company. Tessa still rejected it and continued to skate with Scott (btw, I think that has nothing whatsoever to do with Scott and everything to do with the way parents perceive the "sacrifices" of skating versus even a career in dance). After the Olympics 2010, Kate Virtue told the press she was so upset Tessa's 2008 plans to have surgery and then resume training/competing as quickly as she did (that was a very unorthodox plan that caused Tessa tremendous pain and stress), especially after all she'd been through (Kate Virtue didn't specify what she meant by that) that she told Tessa she didn't have to have the surgery. It bothered her that she was going to do it. Tessa said yes I do have to do it if I want to go to the Olympics. And she did it.

I also took note of how, during the reality show, Kate Virtue said to Tessa something like "My mom would kill me if she saw me making this with canned pumpkin." We don't know, but it's perfectly possible Kate Virtue is a gentle soul whom her daughter adores but doesn't listen to, and Tessa overcompensates in the media about how much her opinion means, when she rejects her opinions/advice.

My point - we have our impressions of Kate Virtue from Tessa Virtue, and Tessa Virtue is a liar.

When I read Katia Gordeeva's book ("My Sergei") it is full of love for her own mother. Every word is full of trust and admiration. However, she didn't take a word of her mother's advice. She was a driven, tunnel-visioned person and her mother was much softer. She describes her mother as "strong'" and herself as "tough" (which to her means not strong, which she would like to be, but hard, which she wishes she weren't). Her mother obviously pitched in and more with the child rearing and was a source of unending emotional support for her daughter, but when it came to career and love life, her daughter ran the show.

514The parents dont think anything. Because its all make believe, dont you see? Otherwise any one of 200 plus "insiders" would blow it wide open. You cant hide this kind of crapolla very long. Certainly not for 4 plus years. Common sense needs to be used now and again people.

After the 2010 Olympics, I believe in 2010 or in early 2011 Semple was injured and at the time the men's alpine ski team medical team - orthopaedics - was based in London. Tessa rehabbed in London after her second surgery. I imagine they exchanged rehab stories etc blah blah blah...

I think people erroneously persist in believing the sham boyfriend or girlfriend is decided upon by Tessa and Scott themselves, or chosen by them. Or Scott meets a good gf candidate (or already knows one) or Tessa strikes up a conversation in rehab with Semple and thinks he might work out as a sham bf. Just as the gf and bf play a role, so do Scott and Tessa. They're not necessarily the casting directors. They have lives.

Why do people think it has anything to do with who Scott and Tessa meet, know and are friendly with? These are two dimensional relationships that exist inside a camera lens for the instant it takes to click the shutter button. That idea goes along with the impression that the sham boyfriend or girlfriend's primary connection to the sham is the person they're shamming for.

It's definitely note-worthy how quickly this 3rd gf was found and established. And all during a time (Sochi) when Scott was supposed to still be with #2, he and Tessa were glued together during Sochi and immediately after were deluged with appearances.

You're saying someone behind the scenes was setting it up? How does that work? And why bring in this Semple person again?

I'm saying that Scott and Tessa are "cast". There was one case where Tessa was actually friends with her SO, who was also friends with Scott, even before the sham (or implied sham) began, but that was situational, not a necessity. Scott and Tessa have plenty of people doing the logistics, and then they show for the photo ops, the end.

I don't think it's a matter of bringing Semple in again, as eliminating him for the reality show, which was all about Scott's heterosexual penis. He had a "gf" but Tessa appeared to be pining for him, blaming herself for his moods, not in a relationship herself, on some sort of rollercoaster about looking to connect with Scott/looking past Scott blah blah blah. No drama if Scott has a gf and Tessa happily has a bf and they skate together happily, the end. IOW, Semple was put on hiatus for the drama.

What do you mean "how does that work?" Use your brains. Sorry, but come on. How do any logistics work? How does any team effort work?

I think the sham is just getting lazier and lazier. They know they won't be called out. Everything in the mainstream supports them. Why should Tessa recast the role of her bf? Just use what's there. He himself doesn't even have to be there - an Alpine ski jacket suffices.

As for the gf - Scott and Tessa have management (of a sort, plus a gazillion "degrees of separation" connections via sponsors, agents, management, the sponsors/agents/management of their friends, Skate Canada, the Olympics, etc.) - and Olympic athletes are all feeding at the same troughs. It's not that difficult to intersect

I think "how does it work" is a legit question. The sham usually comes off as a small town operation. It's incredibly unprofessional. So if Kaitlyn Lawes or Ryan Semple didn't get "cast" by meeting Tessa and Scott under friendly circumstances, how did they? With Cassandra it seemed to me a favor for the daughter of some local yokels who aspires to an underwear modelling career. But Semple and Lawes are legitimate athletes with, hopefully, actual representation. If you're saying Tessa and Scott are being casted, not casting, then how and why does Kaitlyn Lawes choose Scott? Why not choose from a variety of eligible bachelor famewhores? I thought the deal was more that they met up and decided to do each other a favor. You're making it sound like they were chosen, or am I not understanding you? I get the idea that people aren't just shamming "for" Tessa and Scott, that they benefit too, but I also assumed it was generally T&S making the overtures.

As for Mr. Semple, part of me wonders if he's even *aware* he's the current bf. Maybe some of our more intrepid commenters (the ones that can't believe Tessa and Scott lied, but don't want them to be with other people either) can make up a story that Tessa is obsessed with Scott and wants to make him jealous, so is *pretending* her ex is back in the picture (think George Glass from the Brady Bunch), and Scott would never be the wiser, seeing as their lives don't intersect at all... and that would explain the "tension" between them in China! Oh, hopefully soon Scott will realize that Tessa is the One and dump that mannish looking Lawes... now that they are retiring, there is no more reason to deny their true love!

That's my question too. How does casted work if VM aren't finding these famewhores on their own? Everyone has their own life, including those around VM. But they're doing the casting? Or a real agent and they get a salary for this?

Not only are Tessa and Scott part of a large infrastructure of community members and family, they are also part of a large infrastructure of Canadian athletes and Canadian celebrities, including media personalities (and all of these infrastructures intersect at various points), socialites, prominant members of the business community, etc., all trodding the same path, all criss-crossing the same circuit of appearances and events. That infrastructure includes publicists, sponsors (and sponsor publicists), agents, managers, and every manner and stripe of representative. IOW, a huge network. I kind of laughed at the critic in the comments section who said "200 people." Geez. It's way more than that. I don't mean all are personal, dear friends, but it's a network. Anybody prominant in their field has a network about that size. There are companies that do nothing but p.r. for particular sectors in particular circumstances. Anybody in Scott and Tessa's position is in business - is "a" business. BTW - the person who surmised it was about "200" people also said "someone would "crack" and expose Scott and Tessa, presumably the internet. I am curious how they think that plays out. Somebody loses control in the middle of the night, rushes to their computer and logs on to declare the facts, under their own name? Somebody in this network is pressured by a fan? How does cracking happen?

Back to logistics: I don't know how the conversation starts, but it's a safe bet it's not Scott and/or Tessa who texts: "Hey, want to be my sham bf/gf!" Every hallmark of this is that it's managed like events and public appearances are managed, and that goes back to Jessica as well. Someone in the VM camp connects with someone else, and after more conversation, it's set up and VM and whoever the other person is show up for wherever the sham is meant to take place. Every single athlete has this infrastructure around them getting other stuff done for them. That's how it generally works. The people on the business end do the logistics, the "talent" shows up. This is a business affiliation (the sham).

Back when it was Jessica, it was more than obvious Skate Canada did a lot of it, and Scott's family did a lot of it on the front end, with Tessa's family more in the background.

Why would we assume Cassandra was chosen as a favor to her mother? Cassandra is part of Scott's crowd of old school mates, close buds with his female buddies who helped him sham with Jessica and helped wrangle Jessica at times. She's always been around. If they needed a hometown gal for Sham v.2, it was going to be somebody they knew. They probably also wanted somebody reasonably telegenic. And not everybody is going to be gagging to do it, not even if they're friends with Scott. Cassandra was as much doing VM a "favor" as they did her a favor. They needed someone, after all. There was something in it for her, so she did it. I do wonder if her superficial resemblance to Tessa was part of the decision or if it was just a serendipitous value add.

P.S. - I've been thinking about Shannon Woodall (sp? will check later) - the UWO person who tweeted about Scott, Kaitlyn and Scott's parents at dinner, and remembering there was a young skater with a similar last name who used to describe her encounters with Scott and Tessa a couple of years ago. I wonder if they're connected - will chase it down.

I thought this was relevant to the topics discussed at the blog:http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/index.php?threads/polina-edmunds-i-think-anything-is-possible-2014-15-pre-season-article.92930

"I love that Nick McCarvel, a twentysomething freelance tennis reporter who got a gig reporting on skating for NBC.com pre-Sochi and doesn't even understand how IJS works, is now writing for Icenetwork..."

[In his article, he noted that Polina's scores in a local summer competition would have put her fourth at Worlds, apparently not at all discerning the difference in competition at those levels.]

"Well, for example, I would think not understanding the basic structure of a tennis match would prohibit someone from covering that sport. I understand during the Olympics all media outlets have to recruit writers or move writers off their usual beats in order to cover skating for two weeks once every four years, but I'm surprised to now see McCarvel all over Icenetwork this pre-season. I remember during the Olympic season he would make mistakes (often big mistakes) during his "live-tweeting" of events (often displaying a startling lack of basic knowledge) and he would almost never correct or admit mistakes after they were pointed out to him."

If Oprah dumps water on her head and doesn't do the absolute minimum that Jeremy Abbott and Paul/islam did, I'd call her out if I watched anything she did. Is she your God? You sound as if you believe there's a set of people/celebrities who are above critical scrutiny. Who else is on your list?

Correction: "thinking person" not "thinking adult". There are plenty of people under age 18 with competent critical thinking faculties.

7:50PM, to you, "do your research" = "what are celebrities doing?" good for you. Be sure to keep me updated on what George Clooney says. It's amazing to me that "Oprah's doing it!" was, to you, a last word. Well, not amazing. But clears things up.

You called out an olympian for contributing to a charitable event. Not only are hundreds and hundreds of athletes doing it, so are major celebrities, public figures, politicians...etc. oprah was an example, thats all. Dont be such an asshole.

It is now viral. The donations from the participants and general public are tremendous. You should be ashamed of yourself for being critical and judgmental. You freely dish it out by the truck load...but cant suck it up one bit. Typical for your type.

10:41 - do not use the comments section to bitch out stuff the blog did NOT do. Read. Show some reading comprehension. I haven't checked stat counter, but if you're the one who thinks it takes a combination of total insantiy and 72 hours a day to write a blog, you're someone who is incapable of understanding that other people are not you. It was viral when I wrote about it in the first place. If you failed to understand the point the blog post was making, a point that has only been emphasized and underscored by skaters like Paul Islam, Patrick Chan and Jeremy Abbott, don't make it the comments section's problem. Get out and stay out until you actually learn reading comprehension or can bring yourself to address what the blog actually says.

Can anyone confirm T and S didn't break up? Tessa can even pretend to be friendly with the new gf but that's because she's been through so much with Scott, some exes are supportive to each other (esp when there are kids involved)